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All Blacks

All Blacks Sevens celebrate in style

New Zealand finished their IRB Sevens campaign with a triumph in the London Sevens when thrashing Australia 47-12 in the final.

It was the second tournament win of the series for New Zealand and provided a double celebration as they were crowned series champions for the 11th time in 14 years.

It was the first time New Zealand had won at Twickenham since 2007.

New Zealand did it the hard way, having to play Kenya twice, winning 7-0 in the semi-final and having to come from 0-17 down at half-time in their preliminary round game on Saturday.

Coach Gordon Tietjens said: "We took it one game at a time.

"Kenya twice was very, very hard. Even Australia, we knew, was going to be a tough one.

"We work really hard and you get a lot when you work hard. We have got a great team here and a lot of young players.

"Tim Mikkelson was simply, simply outstanding. There will be no easy games in the World Cup and we will go there and give it our best shot, that's what keeps us going," he said.

It was especially satisfying to finish the final with all the young players on the field contributing to an outstanding last try, he said. With the World Cup in mind, Tietjens said he had some problems ahead when settling on his team for that event.

Tomasi Cama said there were disappointments among the side not have won more tournaments during the season but winning London was a good way to finish.

The secret to the side's consistency was the work put in in New Zealand between tournaments, he said.

"When we hit tournaments we have to switch on mentally because there are no easy teams and to have third as our lowest performance through the series shows we have worked hard. The boys had it coming to them and we've got a bit of depth in the squad now.

"We've had a few injuries this year but some new boys have come in and stepped up big time," he said.

Australian coach Mick O'Connor said while it was good to reach the final, the final itself had been disappointing and New Zealand's win had been 'comprehensive'.

"We were just out of our depth.

"They [New Zealand] play at a different level to everyone else when they want to. We were never in that game, they're a quality side," he said.

New Zealand opened the scoring 32 seconds into the final when Tim Mikkelson cross. Pita Ahki and Sherwin Stowers also scored before half-time with Australia scoring once through Allan Fa'alava'au.

In the second half it was non-stop traffic as Kurt Baker, Warwick Lahmert, Mikkelson, Lote Raikabula scored tries while the game finished when Australia scoring their second with Junior Laloifi crossing.